KENTUCKY: Last season: 26-11, won the SEC Tournament title and reached NCAA Sweet 16.
Nickname: Wildcats.
Coach: John Calipari.
Conference: Southeastern.
Who's gone: Forward Kevin Knox and guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became NBA lottery selections. Guard Hamidou Diallo and forward Jarred Vanderbilt were also drafted.
Who's back: Forward PJ Washington withdrew from the NBA Draft and is the top returning scorer and rebounder at 10.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game respectively. Six-foot-11 Nick Richards and guard Quade Green (9.3 points) returned for their sophomore seasons, giving the Wildcats some experience. Guard Jemarl Baker is healthy after redshirting last year with injury.
Who's new: 6-8 forward Reid Travis is a graduate transfer from Stanford who was a two-time All-Pacific 12 Conference first team selection. Kentucky's latest group of blue chip recruits include forward E.J. Montgomery and guards Ashton Hagans, Keldon Johnson, Immanuel Quickley and Tyler Herro.
The Skinny: The mix of returnees Washington, Green and Richards with another heralded freshman class led by Johnson and Montgomery recalls the deep and talented 2014-15 team that won its first 38 games. Calipari won't go there on the expectations, but he loves the depth of his 10th Wildcats squad.
Expectations: Oddsmakers have made the Wildcats the 11/2 second choice behind Duke (5-1) to win the national championship. They have the potential to surpass last year's tournament run and pursue that ninth NCAA title.

PREVIEW

Abilene Christian won't fear goliath Kentucky

Abilene Christian and Kentucky share the Wildcats nickname, but they have little else in common going into their first-round NCAA Tournament meeting Thursday night in Jacksonville, Fla.

No. 15 seed Abilene Christian (27-6) is in the tournament for the first time, while second-seeded Kentucky (27-6) is entered for an NCAA-record 58th time.

"Why wouldn't we play Kentucky?" Abilene Christian coach Joe Golding said of the Midwest Region matchup. "They've got Hall of Fame head coaches -- including the one there now -- and five-star recruits up and down their lineup."

One of those talented players, star power forward PJ Washington, is expected to play after suffering a sprained foot in an SEC tournament semifinal loss to Tennessee on Saturday.

"We had him in the boot for a while," Kentucky coach John Calipari said Wednesday at a press conference.

"X-rays, everything was negative, MRIs. But we sent him to a specialist. Again, precaution. He wants to play. Well, if you know me, I'm like, wait a minute, let's go get one more level of this.

"He's not here with us right now. He'll probably be here in an hour or so, but we sent him to the specialist to make sure that he can't harm himself. But we expect him to play."

Washington, a sophomore, is averaging 14.8 points and 7.5 rebounds this season. He was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection and is viewed as an NBA first-round draft choice should he decide to leave school.

This is Kentucky's seventh time as a No. 2 seed. Overall, it has won 24 of its last 25 NCAA openers, holding a 47-10 all-time mark in its first outings of an NCAA Tournament.

For Calipari, the tradition of the opponent doesn't really matter.

"Everybody's playing for their life and survival," Calipari said. "We have to get through Abilene Christian. That's all I'm worried about right now."

Abilene Christian won the Southland Conference tournament. The team has tied a program record for victories that was set in the 1979-80 season.

Yet a tournament matchup with Kentucky takes the program to a different level.

"I'm sure they have no idea where Abilene, Texas, is, and I'm sure they're not worried about little ol' Abilene Christian," said Golding, who earned a $1,000 bonus by reaching the tournament. "But we're going to use this opportunity to give the nation a window into this great university and this team and these players, and we'll get out on the floor and compete hard for 40 minutes and see what happens."

Abilene Christian has been a Division I team since the 2013-14 season. This was only its second season of eligibility for the "Big Dance" at this level.

So it has been a fast rise for Abilene Christian. In some ways, it's just in time.

"We wanted to be the first team at Abilene Christian to make the tournament," said senior guard Jaylen Franklin. "It's a big surprise, but we stuck through it and trusted each other."

Abilene Christian has hit 38.8 percent of its 3-point attempts, rating 18th in the country. That catches Calipari's attention.

"If they make 20, then we lose in the first round," he said.

Calipari said he's telling his young team to not worry about potential future matchups because most of them won't happen anyway. Plus, he just wants to make sure his team advances.

"We're only focused on the first game and go from there, kind of just have tunnel vision," said Kentucky forward Reid Travis, a graduate transfer from Stanford who'll be in his first NCAA Tournament. "Kind of just go in a hole and just really worry about the next game up, so for us looking at potential matchups and things like that, we're not really looking too far ahead."

Kentucky was knocked out of the Southeastern Conference tournament in the semifinals by Tennessee. For Calipari, an assignment on Thursday is ideal because it gets his team back in action as soon as possible.

"Every team, it's who is playing well," Calipari said. "It's just trying to survive game to game."

The winner will meet the Wofford-Seton Hall winner in Saturday's second round.